How Escalon’s richly colorful Poor Example gallery/store is celebrating anniversary
Colorful characters are increasingly popular everywhere. It’s common to see plushies of PopMart characters, such as Labubu and Skullpanda, hanging from purses, and figurines of Hello Kitty and Pokémon in collectors’ displays.
One Escalon artist is creating the next wave of unique characters, like Skully, Fatbirds, Miles and many others. These characters are all creations of Mike Mitchell and inhabit his Mikeland world.
A combination gallery and store, Poor Example is the epicenter of Mitchell’s art. Just off Main Street in Escalon, the shop is brimming with highly collectible art prints, stickers, figurines, clothing and more. The store is a family affair, with his wife, Lauren Mitchell, helping with design and procurement, and his sister, Leann Castellanos, managing operations of the store and the website.
Few might believe that highly collectible art would come out of Escalon, but Mitchell found that returning home allowed him to thrive in his business. After years of living in Chicago to attend art school, and then creating art for Mondo Gallery in Austin, Texas, Mitchell wanted to escape the “hustle and bustle” of big-city life.
“An opportunity came up when the house next door to my wife’s parents came up for rent,” Mitchell said. Lauren Mitchell is also from Escalon, and they have been together for 18 years.
“California’s just kind of got it going on, and we’re kind of in the middle of everything here,” he said. “When we opened the store, we weren’t sure how it would go, but we had people coming out from Australia, Canada, and all over the United States, and of course, the community here.”
Mitchell’s other reason for returning home was to bring his sister into the business.
“Lauren has wanted to do a store forever, but the reason we never opened a store is that Lauren and I don’t want to run a store,” he said. “So Leann’s role at the moment is basically the boss. She runs the whole store and she runs the online store. She also manages the property that we bought.”
Unlike her brother, Castellanos remained in Escalon and started a family; she is raising three kids while managing the store. “He’s the best boss I’ve ever had,” she said about her brother.
The store opened in March 2025 and Mitchell said the response from the community has been overly positive and supportive. “People in town have started collecting, some for the first time ever, and having it be more of a focal point in their life, rather than something that’s in the background. So it’s really cool to see that. The kids in town love it,” he said.
Kids and adults alike connect with his characters that are both playful and evoke humor. Many of his creations include pop-culture classics like “The Simpsons,” superheroes and “Star Wars,” and characters with smiley faces are sometimes juxtaposed with themes of gloomy humor.
Most of his art prints are giclee, which uses high-quality ink-jet printers to produce fine-art prints using pigment-based inks instead of dye-based inks. He describes his style as “pop surrealism,” though he said that term is a bit overused and outdated.
As for his inspiration, most of it comes from the characters he grew up watching. “I was like just latching on to whatever was around, like old Looney Tunes, Disney cartoons and more obscure stuff, like Bob’s Big Boy. It always goes back to pop culture and my childhood, trying to kind of hold on to that nostalgic feeling,” he said.
Though fine-art prints are the collectors’ favorite, Mitchell believes art should be accessible and offers trading cards, stickers, posters, and even keychains at affordable prices. Smaller items can sell for $5-$20, while his fine-art prints start around $50 and rise for limited-run pieces and exclusive prints.
The Mitchells and Castellanos have big plans for the future of Poor Example. At the same time they opened their store, a nearly 100-year-old building, formerly a bakery, came up for sale on Main Street. They bought it and have been renovating it for over a year to expand the store into a larger gallery, event space, Mitchell’s art studio and a cafe. “I think the goal would also be to frequently bring in different artists to show and sell, too,” Castellanos said. They hope to complete their project by the end of the year.
To celebrate its one-year anniversary, Poor Example will have a special event Saturday and Sunday, March 28-29. The store will be open from 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday. The event will showcase exclusive art for purchase from Mitchell and feature other artists, including Lorien Stern, Michael Reeder, Rob Jones, Daniel Danger, Gats and other special surprise collaborations. There will be a ticketed after-party starting at 6:30 p.m. at Zinc House Farm with giveaways of exclusive art and a swag bag.
The trio hopes to meet new fans while thanking regulars and is optimistic about the future of the Escalon endeavor.
“Opening a store like this in Austin or L.A. would be cool, but you’re just another shop on a street full of cool stuff and other art shops. Here, it’s this colorful, bright light for the town,” Mitchell said. “One of the most rewarding and richest experiences, I think, when you’re making art, is somebody discovering it,” he said.
Poor Example, at 1455 First St., Suite 2, is open Fridays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and by appointment only. For more information, visit www.poorexample.com.
